The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

While hundreds of thousands of consumers in the U.S. continue to wait for Volkswagen to create a plan to fix vehicles that cheat emission standards, federal regulators are apparently looking to the future, asking the carmaker to produce more electric vehicles in the country as a sort of penance for its use of “defeat devices” in diesel cars.

The EPA, which is currently in talks with VW and the California Resources Board to fix emissions cheating vehicles, also allegedly asked the company to help build a network of charging stations across the U.S.

Welt am Sonntag, which did not give a source for its report, was unclear on whether the EPA’s request involved current VW electric and hybrid vehicles or if it related to new models.

“Talks with the EPA are ongoing and we are not commenting on the contents and state of the negotiations,” a VW spokesman told Reuters. The EPA declined to provide comment on the alleged request.

Negotiations between the EPA, CARB, and Volkswagen have been slow moving since the environmental agencies announced in September that more than 500,000 VW cars in the U.S. contain defeat devices that skirt federal emission standards.

The California Air Resources Board rejected VW’s proposal to fix 2-liter sedans sold in California between 2009 and 2015 in mid-January, calling the plan “incomplete, substantially deficient, and fall far short of meeting the legal requirements to return these vehicles to the claimed certification configuration.”

VW submitted another plan for its 3-liter vehicles affected in California on Feb. 2, CARB has 30 days to review that proposal.